Call for investigation into ‘possible misuse of funds’ by senior officials on party’s right wing

Labour party officials opposed to Jeremy Corbyn worked to lose the 2017 general election in the hope that a bad result would trigger a leadership contest to oust him, a dossier drawn up by the party suggests.

A huge cache of leaked WhatsApp messages and emails show senior officials from the party’s right wing, who worked at its HQ, became despondent as Labour climbed in the polls during the election campaign despite their efforts.

The unreleased report, which The Independent has seen in full, was drawn up in the last days of Mr Corbyn’s leadership and concerns the conduct of certain officials, including some who were investigating cases of antisemitism in the party. Labour has confirmed the document is a genuine draft, though it is not clear who it was commissioned or written by.

MSC that the following recommendation of the VDLC Executive Committee be adopted:

Subject: Blockade of GazaBECAUSE the state of Israel has been imposing an illegal blockade on the Palestinian people in the Gaza strip for the past three years, and

BECAUSE the International Committee of the Red Cross has documented the resulting deterioration in the health and living conditions for the 1.5 million Palestinians resident in Gaza, and

BECAUSE a peaceful relief convoy was attacked and boarded by Israeli Defence Forces resulting in the killing of nine civilians on board the relief ships, and

BECAUSE the action by Israel is illegal under international law and the blockade itself is tantamount to "collective punishment" which is illegal under the Geneva Conventions, and

BECAUSE governments and trade union organizations around the world have condemned Israel for these actions and are calling for a boycott and divestment from Israeli companies until these conditions are lifted,

THE VANCOUVER AND DISTRICT LABOUR COUNCIL WILL:

condemn the Israeli attack on the Gaza relief ships in international waters on May 31 which resulted in the deaths of nine civilians on board the ships; and

call for the total lifting of the illegal blockade of Gaza by Israel; and

support the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel in support of these objectives.

On behalf of the 570,000 members of CUPE I am writing to demand that the Canadian government condemn the military assault on the people of Gaza that the State of Israel commenced on December 26, 2008.

CUPE condemns all acts of violence in the Middle East, including the Hamas rockets being launched into Israel and the Israeli offensive mentioned above. To date, your government has stated publically your support for the Israeli people to protect themselves from attack. This is a woefully inadequate and frankly shameful response on behalf of Canadians.

Talking Points for Canadian Unions

Not many people in North America were paying attention in July 2005 when The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, along with over 170 Palestinian unions, political parties, and organizations called for a global campaign of boycotts and divestment from Israel similar to those brought against apartheid South Africa. Remarkably, however, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) was paying attention, and even more remarkably, in June of this year, 896 delegates representing 20,000 public employees unanimously passed Resolution 50 at their Annual General Meeting. The resolution, which is now policy, commits the union

to implement an educational campaign for members into the apartheid nature of the Israeli state;

to support the global campaign of boycotts and divestment from Israel until Palestinian refugees are allowed to return to their former homes; and

to urge the Canadian Labour Congress to join them in opposing Israel’s multi-billion dollar “security” wall, which has been expropriating massive tracts of Palestinian land.

Not surprisingly, within minutes of the passing of the CUPE resolution, the Canadian Jewish Congress was mobilizing Jewish members through e-mail “action alerts” and Israel supporters were scheming to unseat CUPE president Sid Ryan, who has since faced intolerable levels of harassment. Nevertheless, the passing of this resolution by Canada’s largest union has profoundly affected the range of debate within the union landscape. Canadian unions can choose to endorse or reject CUPE’s precedent, but they cannot ignore it, for it has excited too many union activists. Unions throughout the country can expect, or have already experienced, intense debates over the “apartheid” nature of the Jewish state, the role of Israel’s regional aggression within the context of the neo-liberal economic order, and the efficacy of divestment and boycotts as a strategy of resistance. This is a profound achievement, though one that threatens to be undone if the intimidation tactics of the resolution’s opponents are successful in making an example of CUPE and scaring other union leaders from following suit.

Union activists who try to follow CUPE’s lead or support its policy of divestment and boycotts of Israel can expect resistance, not only from members, but from their own union leadership. I can recall from past years the nervous reaction of my own union executive, District 12 of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), when members brought forth motions – relatively harmless ones, too – against the Israeli occupation. Not everyone has the stomach for this type of fight, especially an elected leadership. However, union activists who are up to the fight will need to be prepared for the inevitable arguments they will have to confront. Logic and reason doesn’t always work on those with strong pro-Israel feelings, and with such people it is mostly useless to engage. It is probably more productive to build allies around them until there is enough of a critical mass to make their position untenable. Nevertheless, for the many who have no strong feelings on the issue, or for the few who are open and willing to listen, I have attempted below to respond to the most common objections against union support for CUPE’s lead. I have personally engaged with these objections so many times and repeated my answers so often that, out of sheer exhaustion, I felt the need to assemble them together into a short, user-friendly form that I could simply hand out. I consider this a resource for union activists.

A reply to US labor leaders, from Canada

by Labor for Palestine, 27 August 2007

In July 2007, a group of labour leaders from the US issued a statement opposing the growing international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The statement was signed by a number of presidents from unions including the American Federation of Teachers, the American Postal Workers Union, the Communication Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the AFL-CIO(1). It was widely discussed in the Israeli media, where it was presented as a response to this summer’s important set of boycott resolutions from unions in the UK. While the US statement can in no way be seen as representative of grassroots sentiment within the North American trade union movement, as labour activists involved in a variety of Canadian unions we feel it is important to respond to the array of mistruths and distortions it contains.

Israeli newspaper outlines Palestinian demands

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has been actively supporting the "unconditional" ceasefire proposed by Netanyahu and backed by Egypt. While it appears "humanitarian", an unconditional ceasefire would mean going back to the status quo before the recent hostilities and continuing Israel's punishing blockade of Gaza. But has Baird even considered what the Palestinians are asking for? It's actually quite reasonable.